PLAYA DEL REY -- When Bishop Montgomery sophomore defensive back Vince Aleman noticed the ball coming his way on a fourth-and-3, early in the fourth quarter, he knew he was going to make a play.
"That's the best feeling in the world," Aleman said. "When you know you're going to pick that and you feel it in your hands and you know you're going to get a good yard gain out of it and help the squad out."
Aleman's interception helped the Knights (5-3, 2-2) pull away for a 36-12 win Camino Real League road win over St. Bernard (3-3, 1-1) Friday.
Knights junior quarterback Sean Yanko, who entered the game on the team's second drive and shared snaps with senior quarterback Aidan Morais, rose to the occasion after head coach Ed Hodgkiss introduced the Knights' "different element."
Yanko rushed for two touchdowns from inside the 5-yard-line and tossed another to senior wide receiver Cameron Brewer, who ended the night with a pair of touchdown catches, after taking his first to the end zone from a pass by Morais in the first quarter.
"Yanko came in and gave us a different element by being able to run the ball some and make some scramble plays that were outstanding," Hodgkiss said. "I'm really happy with him and I'm really happy with all of our guys for the way they came out in the second half and continued to play hard."
St. Bernard started the game on the right foot, a 17-yard scramble from senior quarterback Chase Williams for a first down on third-and-15, followed by a 3-yard touchdown run gave the hosts a 6-0 lead after a missed extra point.
After Morais got Brewer into the end zone in the Knights first drive, Williams followed up his first score with a second, this time from the 1-yard-line to make it 12-7 after a second missed extra point.
The Vikings took the lead into halftime in their first league game hosted at home since November 2019. Unfortunately for their fans, a lack of discipline, according to coach Charles Mincy, was what kept the hosts from seeing the game out.
"I feel like we just need a lot more discipline," MIncy said. "I think that's where (losing the halftime lead) came from.
"So we'll see how that goes."
In four drives during the second half for St. Bernard, Bishop Montgomery's defense forced a fumble and had an interceptions. The Vikings turned the ball over on downs twice.
"We needed to come in hard and smack them," Yanko said about the start of the second half. "We came with intensity and ran through them. Defense got some key stops, and we just ran the ball and they were too afraid to tackle us."
The Knights will host Mary Star next week. St. Bernard will host St. Genevieve.